Definetly not Love at First Sight
by Icelyn
Summary: Even though he's trying to hide it James is still madly in love with Lily. When Lily realizes and finally admits she has feelings for James, will James prove that he's good enough or will Lily realize she was right all along?
1. Nighttime Prowls

"SHH!" James Potter whispered, "Get under the cloak." Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew hastened to his side and were seen no more.

This was one of the many night time prowls the three friends took every full moon. They were on their way to an innocent young looking tree. All students were forbidden to go near the whomping willow because in fact this tree was really very ferocious. Just last year a student was nearly killed because they had gotten too close. That was the story that got out, however, James Potter and his friends knew the truth, and the truth was that Sirius had _accidentally _let slip to Severus Snape how to get into the secret passage underneath the tree.

Severus tried it, and believe me it worked but there was something even more dangerous than the tree beyond the passage. James had gotten there just in time to pull his school enemy away from death. Afterward Severus Snape was very angry at James for saving his life. He knew he was indebted to a boy he hated.

Pushing the memory to the back of his mind, James looked forward to the freedom the grounds held for him and his friends. The three boys transformed into their other selves or you might call them a stag, a dog, and a rat. The rat scurried over to the tree and pressed a giant knot. The tree immobilized and then the stag and the dog followed the rat into a large hole between two roots.

The tunnel led them to a boarded up shack. Inside the shack was their best friend Remus Lupin. Remus had been bitten when he was a little boy. He tried to make excuses about why he would disappear every full moon. But his friends had figured out the boy's darkest secret. He was a werewolf.

The animagi and the wolf made their way back out to the grounds. When the wolf had his friends with him he felt more like himself so he was able to control his thirst for human on those nights.

Tonight the animals were going onto the school grounds to have a little fun. They went over to the lake with the giant squid and rested under their favorite tree. As long as no humans were around they would be safe. Next they went to a place near the forest and started to wrestle with one another.

Nights were a lot shorter when Remus had his friends with him. Near dawn the animals went back the shrieking shack. The stag trotted alongside the dog and the rat when he started to change back into himself. The dog followed suite but the rat took a while to realize that his friends had transfigured to their normal selves. He too changed quickly into his human form.

They ran to their dormitory hoping to get a few minutes of sleep before they began the days classes.

Nearly falling asleep in back of charms class James and Sirius were doodling on the page of their notebook where they were supposedly taking notes about the new shield charm. The boys had already perfected this spell after one of the many times Severus Snape had cursed the boys in the hallway.

Finally the lecture was over and the class separated in twos. Sirius and James were too bored to work on a spell they already knew so they looked for something that would be more interesting. Then something caught Sirius's eye. He tapped James on the shoulder and gave him a sly grim. James realized what he was thinking and mirrored his grin with an even more mischievous hint behind it. Immediately they both raised their wands and shouted the spell. Blue sparks flew from the ends of both wands and everybody in the room froze.

Sirius ran right over to Snape and spelled words onto his face with a gleeful smile. James was laughing at his brined the whole time. As soon as Sirius was finished both boys raised their wands again and shouted the counter curse. Everybody looked puzzled including James and Sirius due to their many acting experiences. All the students in the class turned and looked at each other to see if they had felt the same thing. Someone caught sight of Snape and burst into laughter. All eyes flew toward Severus Snape and everyone in the class burst into loud fits of laughter too. Well everyone except three people and those three were Severus, Professor Flitwick, and Lily Evens. The tiny professor went to Severus and removed the muck from his face them turned to the two boys howling with laughter.

Professor Flitwick cleared his throat and the smiles faded from the boys but only briefly. They knew very well this could not be pinned on them, well technically. "How might I ask did this get on Snape's face? Do you know how it happened, boys?"

Sirius looked around at Snape and replied, "I didn't even notice something was there, alright there Snivelly?" As the class howled again with laughter Snape looked murderously at the boy, but knew he could do nothing about it now because of Professor Flitwick.

The professor had had it. "Detention both of you, in my office at seven thirty tomorrow evening." He stomped off muttering under his breath about what a waste of intelligence this was.

Fames glanced over to his right. He saw Lily Evens give a nod as though he deserved that detention. Looking to his left however he found Snivelus giving him a menacing look. He knew he would pay for what they did but it was worth it.

James' thoughts began to wander to random things such as Lily Evans, his friends, and things that were going on outside school like a wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort was attacking muggles and muggleborns. James despised everything about Lord Voldemort but there were some people for example Sirius's younger brother who absolutely worshipped Voldemort and everything about him. The only thing that bothered James about this was that anybody who stood up against the Dark Lord no matter their heritage ended up dead or else worse than dead. James knew that his parents were against Lord Voldemort and he knew that it was right but he wished that they would keep quiet because he was afraid that they would lose their lives along the way. With all these thoughts wondering around in his head he went to his dorm and fell into his four poster bed. Sleep welcomed James like a friend that night.

The next day was Friday. James was quiditch captain so he scheduled the next practice for that evening at six. Everybody on the team was experts. The last match quickly approached the team as if it wanted to catch them off guard. But Gryffindor was ready for anything that would be thrown at them and were tested that very night.

As soon as the balls were released James knew there was something wrong. Both bludgers shot up at him at precisely the same moment. Not only were the bludgers bewitched but the quaffle zoomed up at Sirius at the same time. The whole team was firing jinxes at the balls to make them stop but were failing to do so which forced both James and Sirius to fly for their lives.

Finally Camille Nickoles one of the beaters managed to blast apart a bludger and continued on with the rest of the flying balls. James landed. Making up his mind that it was probably just Snivellus, James repaired the quaffle and the two bludgers them resumed practice along with the rest of the team.

They played as well as ever and retired early to the dressing rooms.

Sirius wondered aloud to James when they were the last two in the room. "What was that all about?"

James shrugged "I have no idea but my guess is snivellus."

"Probably," Sirius let it go. The two boys went up to the castle for dinner. They piled their plates as high as they could and began eating.

Lily Evans was sitting across from them arguing with her friend Addison. "No I can't."

"Yes you can."

"No I can't."

"Yes you can." This went on for a while until finally Sirius said.

"Ladies why don't you tell me and James what it is that you can or can't do then we can give you our points of view."

Lily glared at him. "James and I." she said.

James looked up and Sirius said. "What?"

She repeated. "James and I"

"Lily why don't you save us the trouble and tell us what you are talking about." Sirius said back. Both he and James looked very confused.

She lifted her eyebrows. Then Addison cut in. "You said me and James, she corrected you by saying James and I."

The two boys burst out laughing. Lily looked as if she hadn't found it at all funny. She stood up and left the table. James ran after her. "Will you go out with me Evans?"

"No." She yelled and stomped up the stairs.

James went back to dinner. "How was it mate?" Sirius asked.

"No luck." James said. Sirius smiled and continued eating his dinner.

"Do you know when Remus will be back?" Sirius began.

"Mmmm, sometime tonight I guess." James answered then added, "He usually takes a full day of recovery so that is at about five o clock tomorrow morning."

"What do you mean?" Addison interrogated from across the table. "I thought he was home with his ill mum."

Sirius looked at James and stated quietly,"This one's yours mate."

"Well he is." He was thinking quickly "He is coming back tomorrow morning."

"You said recovery."

"Did I" he glanced at Sirius.

"I think you did." He said matter-of-factly.

James turned back to Addison."My mistake."

Sirius jumped up. "I am going to go to detention."

"Wait for me to finish." James whined.

"Hurry up."

"I can take as long as I want."

"I'm not waiting for you then." And Sirius left. James just smiled after him then went to detention alone. Professor Flitwick let them go early.

Day after day the Daily Prophet reported people found dead and people missing. James and Sirius both relied on what Remus told them was in the newspaper and never read it themselves. So far neither of their families was harmed.

The fear James had for his parents quickly evaporated from his mind. His parents were purebloods after all and it seemed Lord Voldemort and his death eaters were only attacking muggles and muggleborns.


	2. The Letter

The upcoming quiditch match against Hufflepuff was quickly approaching. James was pushing his team for practice so they would be sure to win.

There were three more days… two days…one day…twelve hours… ten hours… eight hours… six… four… one… twenty minutes…ten minutes… five minutes. The whole team was waiting in the dressing rooms for the game to start. Being the captain James told his team they had nothing to worry about and to play the best they could. There was nothing more to be said so he left it at that and waited.

Finally it was time. The team went out and took there places. The captains shook hands and the game began.

Carol Manchess caught the big round ball and zoomed to the Hufflepuff goal posts. She threw the ball and made it in. Gryffindor had received the first tem points of the game. The chasers on both teams played more and more fiercely as the game went on. Keeping his eyes out for the snitch James swerved around the stadium.

The match had gone on for hours. The score was one hundred fifty to one hundred twenty to Gryffindor. James knew he needed to catch the snitch soon to end the game. And then he saw it right next to one of the Hufflepuff beaters on the other end of the field. He urged his broom on toward the snitch. Just as he reached out to grab the tiny gold ball, somebody knocked his hand out of the way, but slipped. Then James leapt from his broomstick and in his hand was the golden snitch. The stadium erupted in cheers. The teams landed and were greeted by the crowd. James was lifted upon Sirius's and Remus's shoulders. They carried him to the Gryffindor common room. Though James was happy he had caught the snitch and won the game, he was really tired. So after a few swigs of pumpkin juice and a few pats on the back he turned in and went to bed. Now that he had the weight off his back he could sleep peacefully. His last thought was on the quidditch cup they had won that day.

The next morning when James came down the dormitory stairs, he immediately saw Lily Evans. He went over and put his arm around her. She scowled and shrugged it off. James simply replaced it. Lily tried to move away but James held her fast. "Why Evans, how would you like me to walk you to our first class together?"

She gave him a false smile and put her right hand in her robe. James was looking away. His arm began to burn. He quickly removed it.

Now Lily faced him. "Don't you ever touch me again or I will hex you beyond repair." Her wand was directed at his face. She turned on her heal and stomped out of the room. James looked surprised then began to smile. Sirius was laughing.

"Tough luck Prongs." He said. He and James went down to breakfast. Sirius told Remus what had happened.

"Seriously Prongs." He replied, "I think you are going about it the wrong way."

"Well what do you suggest Moony?"

"Well you already know that what you do to other girls isn't going to work on lily."

"And…"

"You need to do something different."

"Yah?" And when Remus didn't answer, he added. "Like what?"

"What does Lily like" Remus asked.

"How should I know? She won't ever talk to me." He said very exasperated.

"Well you're going to have to figure it out wont you. That is if you actually want to."

James now had a gleam in his eye. "You have prefect duties with her right?"

Remus frowned. "I'm not going to ask her anything for you if that's what you're going to say."

James looked disappointed. "Why not Moony, you're the perfect man for the job."

"No Prongs you'll have to ask her yourself."

"But…"

"I'm going to transfiguration." Remus interrupted.

"Man he was perfect."Prongs sighed.

"We'd better get going, or we'll be late." Sirius Said.

On their way James thought of something else. "You sit right behind Lily don't you Padfoot?"

"Yep," Sirius answered, "But it will be kind of hard to ask her anything without getting McGonagall involved.

"Oh yah." James was defeated.

The year was nearly over with just exams left. All the teachers were giving the sixth years mountains of homework to prepare for their exams. Since it was springtime many people were found studying outside. This included the Marauders. Though they were studying the Marauders still found time to pull pranks on everyone who passed. The latest was Sadie Cason, a fourth year Gryffindor girl who was trying to catch James's eye. Sirius had beckoned her over. As soon as she was standing about three feet away a swirl of water surrounded her and soaked her to the bone. The four Marauders roared with laughter.

"I have been waiting a long time to try that on someone, Cason, you are the lucky number one." Sirius said through fits of laughter. The soaking Sadie stomped off toward the castle to change into dry clothes no doubt.

James searched the grounds. He found what he was looking for, a certain girl with beautiful green eyes and long red hair. He ran his hand through his already messed up hair and walked over to her side. "Go out with me Evans," he said.

Lily sighed, "No Potter."

"C'mon."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll be your friend."

"No thanks."

"I'll do anything for you."

"Stop asking me out."

James walked away looking disappointed at his loss but had a grin on his face nevertheless, He went and sat next to Remus.

Still looking at his book he said, "Like I said, you have to use a different way to get to Lily, Prongs."

"I know, I know." James was frustrated.

The first exam would be defense against the dark arts, then potions, followed by Transfiguration, next it would be Herbology, and finally Charms. And then for those who had continued in other subjects such as Astronomy and Muggle Studies were last.

The Marauders had nothing to worry about in Defense against the dark arts with the exception of Peter. He was always having trouble with his classes and wouldn't be able to answer all the questions if the answer was staring him in the face.

Just as James expected the exam was simple. He notices that Remus and Sirius were thinking the same thing. The three finished their tests early and waited for the rest of the class. As soon as they were excused the Marauders headed straight for lunch. Lunch ended all too quickly and they headed for their potions exam. Professor Slughorn was waiting with a smile for them.

"Now sixth years, this exam won't be to difficult. All you have to do is make a draught of the living dead." He told them. "The instructions are on the board." He gestured toward the black board. "You may begin."

Although potions wasn't his favorite subject, James was exceptionally well with them. He barely finished his when the hour was up.

"Everybody fill a flask and mark it with your name then bring it up here for me to grade." Professor Slughorn instructed.

There were scraping noises as everybody made to fill their flask. Once all the samples were on the desk the class was excused.

The hour before dinner was dedicated to studying. Most people went to bed at around eleven o clock.

The next morning everybody ate a swift breakfast then hurried off to their Transfiguration exam. Professor McGonagall had given them the task to turn their desks into deer. Every student's looked different from one another. Every one was looking around to see how they did theirs wrong but nobody had time to do any changes. Feeling rather worn out James skipped lunch and went straight to Herbology. Later everyone else joined him

"For this exam you will be identifying the plants on your table. You will write them on this piece of parchment." A large roll of parchment flew toward the students and landed on the desks. "You may begin," said the stout Professor Sprout. The rolls of parchment unrolled themselves and were each about a foot long. They were numbered from one to fifty. This was by far the longest exam yet.

James had about three numbers he had to finish when Professor Sprout told them they had one minute left. He filled in the last three answers with his best guesses. Then it was dinner time.

"One more exam left." Remus reminded them.

James and his friends couldn't wait for exams to be over. After exams was two weeks of free time. This time would be spent outdoors by most of the students. On the last week they would receive their results and then a few days later they would be sent home for the summer vacation.

James went to bed extra early so he could look at his unusual map. He called it the Marauders Map. He and his friends made it for the nights they needed to check to see if the coast was clear. This map labeled every single person in Hogwarts, where they were and who they were. He was looking for someone and he found her in the library with her best friend Addison. He stared at the name for what seemed like hours when someone ran into the dormitory.

"What are you doing?" James asked a panting Sirius.

"I've got a date with Serenity." He answered as he jostled out of the room.

Of course, when had Sirius ever not had a date? He, James, also had a knack with girls, lately though he had been taking it easy because he wanted to be with Lily Evans. He looked back at the map to see Lily's name again. He found her moving up the staircases toward the Gryffindor Common Room. James stood up to go down there but was too late. He watched as her name stopped she was probably in her bed now. He too went back to lying on his bed. He replaced the map in his truck and with his thoughts on Lily, he fell asleep.

_James was with Lily on the sofa. Professor McGonagall came in and told them to do their exams before playing around. James was just about to protest _when he heard his name "Prongs, Prongs!" It was Sirius. James pulled out of his dream.

"What Padfoot?"

"You have five minutes to get yourself into the charms exam! You over slept!" James jumped out of bed and pulled on some robes then raced down stairs just in time for the beginning of the test.

"Nice of you to join us Mr. Potter.: Professor Flitwick said as he retold him the instruction. "You will be writing down ways to do these spells here on the piece of parchment." James began immediately. Most of the spells were ones James had used so he knew t exact effect. However he had found the Glacier spell fairly difficult because he had never used it before, but he guessed that it froze things. James was one of the first to finish and was set free to go to lunch. He sat across from Lily and was arguing with her about why she wouldn't go out with him. She had called him numerous names but he ignored them. James was so busy with his conversation that he didn't notice the tiny screech owl in front of him until it nicked his thumb. Putting his finger to his mouth, James took the letter from the owl, this was odd, and letters were usually delivered at breakfast. But he opened it and read every word. His face paled as the every ounce of blood seemed to run out of it. He felt like was going to get sick.

Lily was watching him. "Are you ok?" she asked.

James ignored her. Grief tore at James's heart and suddenly he felt alone and cold. His thoughts were only on the letter in front of him. He looked close to tears. Suddenly he stood up and ran to his heads office. He knocked fiercely.

"Potter!" McGonagall was angry. "What do you think you are doing?" Then catching sight of James, she asked, "What happened?" He gave her the letter. Her expression of concern turned sorrowful.

"I have to go Professor." She knew he would leave with or without her permission so she brought him to the headmaster's office.

James was beginning to get angry. How could this have happened? If Professor Dumbledore didn't let him go, he would go into hogsmeade and apparate to his house. After seeing the letter Dumbledore didn't refuse James request. He let him go on one condition that he would return to the school after he had taken care of it, he would not go off on his own after he saw them, his parents. James just nodded in agreement.

"You will need a houseelves apparition I presume" James felt weaker by the second. Dumbledore muttered something that sounded like 'kay' and just a second later a small houseelf popped into the room.

"You called Master Dumbledore?" She squeaked.

"Yes will you take Mr. Potter to his house, and then bring him back?"

"Of course sir, Kay would be honored."

"It would be best if you landed about a block away from the house."

"Yes sir." James had nothing to say.

They landed in front of an old muggle church. James took off running toward his house. He was dreading what he would see so he slowed to a walk. He pulled out the letter and reread it.

_Dear Mister James Potter,_

_ We are very sorry to inform you that your house has been discovered with the dark mark above it. As you know this particular mark forces us to conclude that the dark Lord visited your home. Later when we came to investigate, it looked as if there had been a struggle._

_ We regret to inform you that we have found your parents bodies and concluded that they were first tortured by the cruciatus curse, then were twisted by a spell unknown to any ministry official, and then finally killed the unforgiveable curse known as Avada Kadavra. We are very sorry for your loss._

_Giving you our best wishes,_

_Ministry of Magic_

James folded the letter back up then quickened his pace with the elf still by his side. He could see his house now The Dark Mark was removed but the door was off its hinges. He began running. A ministry official stopped him from running into the house. "Sir My parents," James nearly begged.

The man's face was white as chalk. "I strongly recommend you staying out here because it is not a pleasant sight."

"Please sir." James begged again. The man sighed and gestured him in.

James passed him. He could see now that there was a great battle. He followed the damaged pieces of house to find the end. He was dreading what he would see. In the letter it explained that his parents were tortured, twisted, and then killed. Twisted? What did they mean? He would find out soon enough. James turned a corner and… No No No. He knelt down beside the bodies. How could anybody do this? A tear fell down his face and landed on the blood soaked carpet. More were forming, He couldn't help it. His parents' limbs were literally twisted.

They both had looks of pure agony on their faces. Why couldn't it have been me instead? James thought. Suddenly he wanted to run. He wanted to avenge his parents. He wanted to make the beast that did this hurt and die. He was already on his way when he remembered his promise to Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore knew he would feel this way. He would just have to break his promise. But then his father's voice sounded in his head. _Your word is your word, James and you must keep it. _James turned to the houseelf and together they went back to Hogwarts.


	3. Going Home

They were back in Dumbledore's office. He stood up and welcomed them. "I know how you must feel James." James just stared at the floor. "I know you must be wondering why I wanted you to come back." He paused, "It is not safe for you to o looking for the culprit."

James muttered, "I don't care if it isn't safe I want to get them and kill them."

"James think of your parents, think of what they would say to you." James thought about it, of course they would tell him to keep going to school. "You do need time t recover from the shock but remember your friends James. Don't abandon them."

James stood up slowly and left. He couldn't believe this. He just couldn't stand this. Why his parents? He didn't care where he went or what he did; he just had to keep walking.

James had been walking for a while when he saw a door to a classroom; he went inside. This wasn't a classroom but a room he'd never been in before. It was filled with pictures of his parents. They looked so happy in each and every one of them. He gazed at the pictures and occasionally he and Sirius were there. James found one with his parents holding hands and held it in his arms. He sat in a corner of the room and stared at the photo in his lap. Finally tears fell freely down his cheeks this was the first time in his life he felt vulnerable to the world.

He didn't eat or sleep for many days. He couldn't tell if it was night or day. As time went on he got so tired that he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. He fell into a deep sleep. Professor Dumbledore's words haunted him in his dreams. "Don't abandon your friends James." He would have to leave the room sometime but for now he could stay here as long as he wanted.

James woke up and saw a bed. He lifted himself up onto it and fell once more to sleep.

He was awoken by a very loud noise.

"I can't believe it actually worked!" The voice exclaimed. "James! James!"

"What?" His voice croaked from lack of use.

The voice quieted, "I'm so sorry James. I can't believe this happened." James opened his eyes.

"Hello Padfoot."

"I'm so sorry." He repeated.

"That's okay."

"Lily told us about the letter you got after Charms exam. She said you looked really sick and that you left your stuff there and never came back, and then Remus was reading the Prophet. All of a sudden he was like NO! Then he read the paper to us. It said Mr. and Mrs. Potter's home has been found with the Dark Lords mark over it. Their bodies were recovered from underneath some rubble inside the house. Ministry officials have never seen a killing quite like this ever before. Did you see it?" Sirius finished.

"Yes."

"How was it?"

James pulled out the letter and handed it to Sirius. "Twisted… really?" James nodded. Sirius looked disgusted. He didn't say anything else. After a long pause Sirius began again.

"You know, Prongs the train is leaving tomorrow. I think you probably better go pack." James gave him a do I have to look. Sirius said "C'mon I'll help you." James stood up. It felt good to stretch. "Oh yah you must be starving. Let's go to the kitchens to get some food." James just followed. Sirius was right he was hungry. They went to the portrait with a bowl of fruit then tickled the pear, the door swung open and hundreds of house elves came forward offering them all sorts of delicious food.

The two friends dug in.

James was starting to get feeling back in his body. He was glad Sirius had gotten him. When both boys had had their fill the elves took the trays away. They thanked the little elves as they bowed them out.

The two boys made their way up to the portrait hole. Sirius stated clearly, fire whisky. The fat lady admitted them in. On this fine day everyone was either enjoying the outdoors or packing up in their dormitory so the common room was nearly all the way empty. James stole upstairs. He didn't was t to bring any attention to himself. Remus was lying on his bed reading.

"Hey Padfoot… Prongs."

"Hi Moony," James and Sirius said in unison. Remus took a double take.

"Prongs!" he cried. "Wow we missed you mate! I'm so sorry about your mum and dad."

"It's ok." James said. He threw all his belongings into his trunk. Remus continued talking.

"The prophet didn't say much as to how…; he stopped. James told Sirius to let Remus see the letter. There was silence while he read it. "Twisted?"

"Yah I know." Sirius broke in. "that is exactly what I said. And it really means twisted. "Remus looked revolted. He gave the letter back to James. James let his two best friends talk it over. He did not want to say much. His friends realized this and didn't interrogate him anymore.

Soon everyone's packing was done. Then Peter came in and they told him the story. They went down to the last feast of the year. Professor Dumbledore was sitting on his usual high backed chair. He rose. The school quieted immediately.

James tuned out of the annual speech. He was glad that they had won the quidditch cup and the house cup. But he had suffered a terrible loss this year. James Potter was the last living Potter.

At the end of the feast the students loaded their trunks onto the train. The Marauders went to their compartment and made themselves comfortable.

"Hey Prongs," Sirius started when the train began to move. James looked over at his friend. He had a hopeful look on his face. "Um, can I still go to your house over the summer?"

"For sure man," Sirius smiled. James could tell he had been worrying about this for a while. James would be glad to have the company over the summer. Now that he thought about it, James didn't know where he would be staying. He would probably just go to his old home. The train ride was long and silent. When the lunch trolley came around Peter bought everyone snacks. James fell asleep and was awoken by the screeching of the wheels. He grabbed his trunk and hauled it out onto Kings Cross Station. There were already people going through the barrier to go into a muggle station.

James paired with Sirius and waited in line with Remus and Peter behind him. Finally it was his turn to go. They leaned against the barrier and fell through. Parents were meeting their children. James stayed with Sirius as they pushed through the crowd toward the end of the station to apparate. Before they reached their destination, however, Mark Platnum, the ministry official that had dealt with James house, stopped them.

"We have found your parents will. They have left everything to you including the money in their Gringotts vault and the house." James nodded and then looked unsure of himself, "The house is all cleaned up. And we have already buried your parents. I didn't think you'd want to see your parents that way again." James couldn't speak so he just nodded.

The two friends continued down toward the apparition spot and both turned on the spot.

They landed in James living room. "Wanna play exploding snap, Prongs?"

"No that's ok."

"C'mon James you have to do something. It will keep your mind off things." He pleaded. James sighed, Sirius was right. They played the game until they got tired of it. James went to make dinner.

"What is this, Prongs?"

"Its food Padfoot, eat it."

"I'm not eating this."

"Why?"

"It looks disgusting." James gave a small smile.

"C'mon just try it." Sirius sighed.

"Fine," He took a small bite and spit it right back out. "What is this?"

James started laughing, "I don't know I found it in the fridge."

Sirius muttered 'disgusting' and then James pulled out the stuff he really made and handed it over to Sirius. The boy eyed it cautiously and took a bite. "Now this stuff tastes good." They ate for a while then Sirius started again. "James? I really am sorry about your parents. I just… thought they'd be safe for sure, you know being pureblood and all that."

"Yah me too." He just sat there silently. He never wanted to see the place where his parents were again. But Sirius asked where they were, and James showed him. He was half expecting the bodies to still be there. But everything was cleaned up.

"So Prongs, what should we do next?"

"I don't know about you Padfoot but I want to get on the roof." Sirius looked startled. "I'm not going to throw myself off or anything." Sirius relaxed. They went up there and James lay down.

"What's the point of this, Prongs?"

"When I was little my dad used to bring me up here. He would just lie down and stare up and the sky. He would always tell me how beautiful it was. I never knew what he was talking about but I always thought it was so cool." They sat up there for about an hour and then finally Sirius decided he was tired so the two boys left the roof top.

"Oh I almost forgot about these." He pulled a piece of parchment out of his trunk and threw it to James. "Those are your exam result." James pulled out the paper and saw that he had passed onto his seventh year.


	4. Starting all Over

This summer was the quietist in both James and Sirius life. There wasn't much messing around. It passed very slowly. Both boys couldn't wait for school to start up again.

About a week before September first, two scrawny owls flew through the open window. One went to Sirius and one to James.

"Hogwarts letters," Sirius stated shortly as he pried the wax off to open his. James was doing the same. Something fell out of his envelope. It looked like a badge… well two badges. His mouth fell open as he stared at the letters on the silver one.

"Nearly all of the same books as last year… just newer versions." Sirius stopped when he saw the expression on his best mates face. He looked around wide eyed, seeing nothing he asked, "What?" James didn't answer, he just held up the badge. Sirius looked just as surprised but recovered shortly and began to laugh. "This has got to be a joke. Congratulations…. Do you realize how much stuff we can get away with this year? Looks like we're not going to be getting very many detentions." He finished with a sly grin.

James scowled, "If this isn't a joke then I don't think I will be able to abuse the power like that, Padfoot." James said with a straight face.

"Not even a little bit?" Sirius held up his thumb and forefinger a centimeter apart.

James smiled. "Well as long as we don't get caught."

"I'm tired of being in this house. Let's get our spell books and stuff right now." They apparated into the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron and then tapped the bricks. The usual archway appeared. They walked in gazing at the new things that had come over the summer. James and Sirius first stopped at Gringotts Wizard bank. There were goblins at every entrance. When they were inside the building they saw desks filled with goblins. James went to the one his father used to and asked if he had time to help. The goblin nodded and beckoned them to follow.

"Where do you need to go?" the short beast asked.

"To the Potters and Blacks… well Sirius Blacks vault." They hopped into a cart and it started moving immediately. There was a loud clunk when it stopped. The goblin unlocked the door and let James in to get what he needed then did the same for Sirius.

Once outside the bank, the boys headed to the first book shop, flourish and Blotts. They got all their spell books there and then went to the potions store next door. They got new potions kits and left without a word. Next they came to Madam Malkins dress robes for all occasions she measured them then cut out material to make the robes fit. Finally she sent them on their way with one more parcel to carry.

"So Prongs, who do you think the other head is?"

"Probably Lily but I won't get my hopes up too high this year."

"Listen, you can just use your brain Prongs and realize that Lily is never going to come around and you can find someone else who will actually like you." Sirius took a blow to the back of his head. "Ow Prongs what was that for?"

"You know as well as I do that I can't just automatically start liking another girl." Sirius nodded and James continued. "But you're right I guess." He hung his shoulders.

"Plus Prongs you don't have to like the girl at first. You will just learn to like her. I know you're not a quitter and I know you won't drop it."

"No I think your right. It's time to move on to someone else. The first time I asked her out it was a joke but then, I don't know what happened, I suddenly started really wanting to go out with her. You probably wouldn't understand though because you are trying to get as many girls as you can. You don't even stop to think about them."

"I stop to think about them. I guess I just haven't found the perfect girl yet."

"Wow, Padfoot is all touchy feely inside. Who would have thought?" It was James turn to take the blow. "So now that you're going to be all serious this year what are you going to do?"

"Not too serious, Prongs, just serious enough."

"Right," James rolled his eyes.

The boys went home and packed for the next few days. Finally the day came when they would be headed back to school for the seventh year. James put his trunk out on his front doorstep where Sirius had already put his, and he locked the house up. "Hurry up Sirius we have to go."

"Hey James are you the quidditch captain this year?"

"Yah, c'mon"

"How do you know?"

"'Cause, Padfoot the letter is in my pocket, it came with my booklist and badge."

"Can I be on the team?"

"Padfoot hurry up."

"Can I?"

"Yes." James yelled. "We are going to be late."

Sirius smiled. "YES!" They stepped out on the front porch, held their luggage tightly and then turned on the spot. The now familiar sensation of apparition engulfed James. The air was being sucked out of his lungs. When he felt as though we would suffocate he broke through and gulped the air. They were now at Kings Cross Station. They loaded their trunks in an empty compartment then stepped back off the train to meet their friends.

Remus came bounding out of the magical barrier to platform nine and three quarters. "Why didn't you just apparate Moony?" Sirius called.

Remus trotted over muttering something about his parents and asked, "How was your summer?"

Sirius glanced over at James. James cut in, "It was lousy. We did pretty much nothing the whole time."

"James are you okay?" Remus asked looking concerned.

"I'm fine Moony," he answered honestly, but he didn't want to talk about it. He made up his mind that he was not going to dwell on the past. He was going to look to the future and what it would bring him.

James snapped out of his thoughts and saw that Sirius was trying and failing to help Remus get his luggage on the train. "Come on Prongs. We need your help. Moony seems to have brought his whole house this year." James went over to help. "Seriously Moony what is in here?"

"Books." He answered as they finally heaved the trunk on board.

"Do you think you brought enough?"

"I'm not so sure." Remus replied with a smirk. Sirius shrugged and marched off. Just then James noticed the badge on Remus's chest.

"You're a prefect?"

"Yah I am. I wonder who Head Boy is."

"Me too," James stopped himself. "Actually I am," He apologized. "I think maybe they accidentally gave it to me instead of you."

Moony smiled, "Don't be silly Prongs. Congratulations. Dumbledore probably decided you needed some responsibility besides if I got it w would ask if I could resign."

"Why?"

"Because I wouldn't be able to do everything they require because of my _problem."_

"Oh yah but I'm going to be with you the whole time so I can't either."

"Not if it conflicts with your duties you're not."

James tried to find something to say to that but couldn't so he just shrugged. Sirius came back with Peter just as the train began to move.

"James you have to go meet with the Head Girl in the prefects' carriage."

Prongs looked worried. "Where is it?" Remus got up to show him.

The two boys pushed the door open. Remus walked right in but James hesitated. Finally he followed.

"What are you doing in here Potter?" said an all too familiar voice. "This is the Prefects carriage." James tuned to the beautiful red haired girl. She was wearing her Head Girl badge and a scowl. He gave her a small smile.

"Sorry." He said, and then made his way toward the door he had just come though.

"Don't be ridiculous Prongs just tell her." Remus piped up. James took a badge out of his pocket. Lily gasped.

"What? Are you joking? How could he do that?" She looked angry.

James decided to defend himself, "It's not my fault Lily." She glared at him for a while then dropped her gaze and was silent. James took the seat marked head boy.

"I guess we'll begin now that everybody is here." Lily started. "Prefects have the responsibility to patrol the compartments. If you see any trouble, stop it immediately. We will also be patrolling the castle at nights. Do you have anything to add?" She tilted her head toward James. He thought for a moment then shook his head. "You may go now." Lily finished. He and Lily were the only people in the compartment left. Lily seemed like she wanted to say something but stopped herself. James went back to his compartment.

"So Prongs Lily head girl," Sirius stated. James nodded gloomily. "What are you going to do?" James shrugged.

Peter laughed "Well this year is going to be interesting."

"Shut up Wormtail," Remus cut in. "why were you going to just walk out?" James shrugged again. "And why in the world are you worried you have to work with Lily for a year? You would have killed to be in your position just a year ago."

"She hates me." James said. Nobody could cheer him up so they dropped the subject altogether.

"Can't wait for the feast." Sirius said rubbing his stomach. The train came to a stop and let all the students out. The familiar booming voice of Hagrid the game keeper came calling the first years over to him. James saw a couple of first years looking frighteningly at the giant of a man.

He made his way to the small kids and said, "You know when I was your age I was afraid of him too but in reality, he wouldn't hurt a fly. He'll help you get to the castle safely. It's beautiful, you'll see." He left the first years with Hagrid and then scampered off toward the horseless carriage his friends were in. It brought them to the castle.

Everybody filed in towards their house table.

Five minutes later Professor McGonagall brought in all the first years just as Professor Flitwick brought in a stool and an old ripped up hat. The hat was placed on the stool and everybody stared at it. A ripped part of the hat opened and began singing a song. It was about the four houses and how to qualify for each one. As soon as it stopped the crowd erupted in cheers. When everyone was quiet Professor McGonagall started calling names.

"Angel, Faline." The hat waited for a while then called Slytherin.

"Hall, Jeremy," Hufflepuff. When the last person was called Professor Dumbledore stood, "To our new students, welcome. To our old, welcome back. I hope you all had good summers. I just want to remind you that the forbidden forest is out of bounds. Dig in." And the platters on the table filled with food. The students stuffed their plates and ate with a clatter. When everybody had had their fill, they left the great hall to go to their warm beds.

James was swept away along with the rest of the crowd. He battled his way toward the Gryffindor tower. When he got to the door he realized he didn't know the password. Remembering that he was the one that was supposed to know it he started back down the stairs.

"Hey aren't you going to tell us the password Head Boy?" someone yelled. He ignored then and went to find Lily. She was with her friends watching out for a few first year stragglers. He made his way over. Lily stared at him as he walked over.

"Do you know the password?" She nodded and walked passed him and went up to the portrait of the fat lady and said, "Bauble-nute." The hidden door was revealed itself as the portrait swung open and the students trafficked into the common room.

Feeling really stupid James followed. He went straight up to his dormitory and spread out on his four poster bed. Since his stomach was full of food, it was very easy for him to fall asleep.

The next morning he was awaken by Remus calling his name. He felt refreshed and started getting his robes on. Peter and Sirius were already downstairs. James with Remus scurried out to meet them.

The breakfast feast looked delicious. The two boys took their usual seats next to Sirius and Peter. Sirius was in an argument with the person next to him which was very usual because you usually couldn't find him when he wasn't arguing or pulling a prank. This went on for a fair amount of time until finally James stepped in.

"Sirius!" he hollered, "Just shut up your giving me a head ache." Giving James an apologetic glance Sirius shut his mouth.

Professor McGonagall moved towards the long table to hand out the class schedules. When she came across James and Sirius, they took theirs without a word. They both looked at the schedule and then set them down and began eating again.

From across the table, Remus put down his fork and reached across the table for both James and Sirius schedules. He had already compared his and peters.

Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail had the exact same schedules. Moony would too except he took a few more classes than the other three boys. As soon as they finished breakfast they all started off toward transfiguration.

Since this was the seventh year all the teachers had pretty much the exact same introductions as each other. They all warned the seventh year students about their upcoming NEWT exams and told them that they were going to have tons more homework than any of the previous years.

It was only the first day of class but every professor had insisted on giving the students loads of homework.


	5. Apologies

The Marauders were in the Gryffindor common room sitting lazily on the sofa with the exception of Remus, he had already begun one of his essays.

"So Prongs," Sirius broke the silence. "When are quidditch tryouts?"

"I don't know Padfoot, When do you think I should have them?"

Sirius thought for a moment. "You should start as soon as possible so we can be sure to win the house cup. For instance this Saturday night is open."

"Why not have them in the morning?" Remus said without taking his eyes off the essay he was working on.

"I have something planned that morning." Sirius confessed. All the Marauders looked at him expectantly. The boy grinned mischievously. "A huge prank, its genius, I can't believe I never thought of it before."

James shook his head, "No Padfoot, I can't." Sirius looked bummed out, but then the light flickered back on in his eyes.

"Maybe you can't but we can." Sirius pointed to himself and the other two Marauders.

Still Remus didn't take his eyes off his work but said, "That's a little inconvenient with time though, James has to have practice in the morning or not at all."

"Why?" Sirius questioned.

"Yah why?" James asked.

For the first time since the conversation began Remus tore his eyes from his essay. He simply said, "Patrol."

"Wait, what?" James asked.

"You have patrol every Saturday night with the other head. Did you even read the letter that came with your badge?"

"Uhh." James tried to remember but the badge had just fallen out of his envelope so no, he had not. He shook his head.

"Well you'd better go and read it so you don't miss anything important." Remus finished.

"Aren't head duties for after curfew?"

"Yah but there is supposed to be a meeting with the prefects for the first rounds of the year. It explains it in your letter."

Immediately James stood and went up to the boys' dormitory. He searched through his luggage and found what he was looking for. All he had to do was spot trouble and stop it and then there were the Saturday night patrols. I wonder if we patrol together or separate, James wondered to himself. He knew what he would have hoped for last year, but this year he hoped for the very opposite.

"Oy, Moony," James called, "Do the heads patrol together or separate?"

"Together… no separate… um I actually have no idea sorry. When I was on patrol last year the teachers had them go together but I think it's up to the professor in charge. They'll for sure have you go with somebody though."

"Oh," James face fell. He silently prayed he would be able to o with someone other than Lily.

That Saturday came much too quickly for James, he had ended up scheduling quidditch tryout were the first half of the day. Sirius was upset about this but he got over it quickly. Tryouts were lasting much too long. There were tons of people trying to get on the quidditch team. Some people came only to watch. That was the last straw; James had lost his patience and was barking orders to the rest of the team. As night fell the team went back to the dressing rooms and changed. Everybody knew their captain was in a foul mood so nobody said much.

As James was walking towards the castle he thought about tryouts. That was very lousy hardly anyone was serious about being on the team. He had had to choose four new players. He had chosen the best he could. He continued toward the prefects meeting. Sure enough he was paired with Lily Evans to patrol the south corridors for about two hours.

The two heads walked in silence for what seemed like hours. James glanced at his watch; surely time would be up by now. What? They had only been out for a half an hour. James sighed this was going to be a long night.

James decided that he didn't want it to be awkward all the time he and Lily were together so he tried to talk to her. "Uh… so… do you like the castle?" that was so stupid she would think he was going mad, of course she like it. This was where she spent the last six years of her life.

"Yah I do." She answered politely. Finally James stopped. "Hey." Lily stopped too and then turned towards James.

"What?" she sounded exasperated.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" It was half question, half surprise.

"I'm sorry." James repeated.

Lily waited for him to go on but when he didn't she said, "For what? You didn't do anything yet Potter at least not that I know of."

"I'm sorry for everything. Everything I ever did... to make you miserable, I really am Lily."

"It's okay. I'm sorry too… for everything I've done to make you suffer, well not really suffer but suffer for you. And I'm also sorry for not ever giving you a chance. You were just asking a bunch of girls out and I felt like I was just some girl to you. And I'm also sorry about your parents, I think that would be one of the most horrible things that could happen to anyone." Lily rambled on.

"It's fine." They walked on in a less awkward silence. The rest of the time passed quickly and the head boy and girl finished their patrol on much lighter terms. As they were walking toward the portrait hole, Lily stopped James.

"Hey, truce?" she held out her hand. The boy gave her one of his heart melting smiles and took her hand nodding then repeated truce. And that was the one time Lily Evans actually let James Potter's smile melt her heart.

"How'd it go, mate?" James was awakened by his friends. Still a bit groggy James asked, "What?"

"How did the patrol with Lily Evans go?" Sirius asked again.

"Normal."

"Wait, normal as in normal for you guys or normal as in nothing."

"Nothing."

"Weird… How did you accomplish that Prongs?"

"I don't know, I think it was 'cause I said I was sorry." James repeated. Sirius stared with wide eyes. "Yah I said I was sorry."

"Are you off your rocker? You never apologize to anyone, not even me. He added after a seconds thought.

"Nice going Prongs." Remus jumped into the conversation. "That's probably the first step to get Lily to like you."

"I don't think I was trying to get her to like me. I was just being honest, plus I needed something to say"

"Hey I don't know about you guys but I don't fancy being late for McGonagall's class." Peter finally spoke.

The boys rushed down for a spot of breakfast so they wouldn't starve all morning.


	6. The Attack

Ever since James apologized to Lily, Lily started actually getting to know him. She wasn't nearly as awkward as before and she talked to him about head duties all the time. Instead of hearing about patrol meetings from Remus, he was actually the first to know. Now that James was in Lily's good books, Sirius thought that he should try some more of his old moves but James wouldn't budge. He knew that if he ever tried to ask Lily out again she would put all her walls back up with even stronger supports than before. But getting to know the real Lily made James like her even more. He often thought of how he wished he hadn't treated her the way he did, but there was nothing he could do to change it.

James had loads of homework, Patrols, practices, and on top of that, another full moon was coming up this Saturday. Oh No! The full moon would be the day after tomorrow on Saturday! What would he tell Lily? James knew Remus would want him to do the patrol, but, Sirius and Peter wouldn't be able to handle the werewolf on their own He'd better have a really good excuse for not going to patrols. He would have to find somebody to replace him. What about Addison? He would ask her tomorrow at dinner.

James thought of ways to convince her to do his patrol with Lily, and he kept putting it off. Saturday quickly came and so James thought that he'd better ask her before tonight.

"Hey Addison," James began. The girl turned to face him. "Do… uh... well I was wondering if you could cover for me tonight at patrol. I'm not feeling very well so I thought that since your Lily's fried…"

"I could talk her into letting you off?" Addison jumped in.

"Not exactly… I was planning on telling Lily I just wanted to make sure there was a replacement, preferably one of her friends."

"If it's okay with her thin I'm fine with it."

James nodded. All he had to do now was ask Lily. He wolfed down his dinner and went to find her. Deciding the library was usually the place she was, he started there.

He trotted toward the library and looked inside. There she was studying with Remus. Remus can't know or else he would make sure Lily made James go.

"Hey Lily can I talk to you?" now that he was there he just needed to get Lily away from Remus.

"sure," She answered then put down her notes and stared at him.

"Er, over here." James gestured to an empty table. Both Lily and Remus raised their eyebrows, Lily hesitated but then went over with him.

"I was wondering… um" ok this was harder than James thought. "Could uh… would it be ok if I didn't do patrol tonight?" Lily gazed at him. "I found someone to cover for me," He looked at her with hope in his gorgeous hazel eyes. She stared into them for a second then composed herself quickly.

"Yah sure, who is it?"

"Addison. Thanks." James began to leave.

"Wait." Lily stopped him. "Why didn't you want Remus to hear? She was curious.

"Because… he wouldn't approve, could you please keep it quiet? He would kill me."

Lily seemed amused but nodded nevertheless.

"Thanks." James repeated just before he left the library.

He went up to his dormitory; Sirius was lying down on his bed with his hands tucked beneath his head.

"So Prongs, are you going to have fun while we are out tonight?" He teased?

"Course, I'm going with you."

Sirius sat up "What? What did Remus say?"

"He didn't say anything because what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"He'll beat you up for it once he finds out."

"Maybe he won't find out, I could just be there to restrain him if anything happens. Besides when he's in the attacking mode he doesn't remember it because the wolf inside him takes over, I don't think I will need to be there but if something did happen you wouldn't be able to restrain him by yourself."

"Are you sure you want to blow off a night with Evans?"

James thought for a moment. He knew if he tried to talk Sirius out of going tonight it would only make him more eager to go. James knew he would need to be there. He nodded and Sirius shrugged, "Your loss."

As night fell Remus left the boys thinking James was out patrolling. He went to the whomping willow to his usual hiding place.

Soon afterward James, Sirius, and Peter traced Remus steps. Peter and Sirius went inside the wild tree to retrieve the wolf. Prongs stayed outside in the cover of the think green trees.

After a few minutes three figures emerged, two large ones and one very tiny one.

The animals trotted off toward the forbidden Forest. James followed close behind but not woo close. They stopped at the edge of the forest.

For what seemed like about an hour everything went fine. The animagis played roughly with the young wolf.

Suddenly the werewolf paused… and sniffed the air. He started forward. James was alarmed and confused, but then he saw it, a small shadow. He surged forward. Sirius and Peter hadn't noticed yet. Prongs began to run. As he came closer he saw what it was, who it was.

Lily Evans was frozen with terror. She couldn't seem to take her emerald eyes from the ferocious beast in front of her. The huge wolf was upon her now. Why wouldn't she move? H was there now, beside Lily, the hungry animal smacked his lips eyeing the girl in front of him. Would Remus control himself? James stood there waiting, by now the rat and the dog had come forward.

James took a step to stand in front of Lily, The werewolf was offended that he would dare deny him his feast. He attacked. James was ready; he met the beast head on and took the full blow. The stag howled in pain as the wolf's sharp claws dug into his flesh and then threw him aside.

James watched as Lily finally came to her senses, she tore across the school grounds. The werewolf tried to follow but was stopped once again by a huge black dog. Sirius was wounded but together he and James struggled to pull the fighting beast into the whomping willow.

Ager Remus settled down a little the three friends left him to get some needed rest.

They went inside the school and changed their forms.

"What happened?" Sirius breathed heavily, "Who was that?"

"Lily." James answered, also out of breath. "Is everyone okay?"

They checked each other out. "It looked like he got you pretty bad." Sirius said.

"I'm fine. I just got scratched across my chest. Nothing bad I don't think."

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked. James nodded. "You have blood all over your shirt." James looked down. Peter started towards the stairs still shaken from his experience.

"Hey Pete," Sirius called. "This does not reach Remus ears." Peter turned, nodded, and then ran the rest of the way to the portrait hole. The other two boys followed.

They went up to their dormitory and found Peter fast asleep.

"Unbelievable, "Sirius looked disbelieving at the chubby boy. "He's already asleep."

James pulled off his blood soaked shirt and put it in the bathroom sink. He cleaned his wound and found that it was much larger than he had anticipated.

"Maybe you should try healing that." Sirius suggested as James left the bathroom.

"Nah it'll be fine." James protested.

"Prongs that doesn't look fine, let me try." James sat still as Sirius performed his healing spell. The cut closed, satisfied with his work, Sirius put his wand away.

Even though the skin was closed James felt the hot pain still searing from his hip across to his chest, as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The boy woke with a start as he felt a deep pain surge through his body. He looked down at his front and the deep gash in his flesh was reopening. Warm blood gushed from the newly opened skin.

James got up and bandaged the torn skin. Then tried to get back to bed.

James awoke with a sore body. He got ready for the day and renewed the bandages.

"Oy Padfoot." James woke his friend. "How's your shoulder?"

"It's still bleeding."Sirius replied yawning and checking out his shoulder. "I should try that healing spell." It closed.

"Does it feel any better?" James questioned.

"A little yah "concluded Sirius. "Any way I'm not going to be able to go to quidditch practice tonight unless it's earlier."

"Why?"

"I have a date with Addison."

"Lily's Addison?"

"The one and only."

"Actually not the only, but ok I'll schedule the practice for earlier. You'd better be there because the match is next week. Exactly six days."

"Yah I know. I bet we'll win. Do you want to bet against it?"

"I'm not betting against my own team Padfoot."

Practices were getting fiercer as the quidditch match drew closer. The weather was also turning cold. James wound began to swell and started changing bright red. The huge sore was getting uglier.

Before the team knew, Saturday was upon them, they were standing in the dressing room very anxiously waiting for the time to start.

The team walked out on the field.

It was the first match of the year. Gryffindor would be playing against Slytherin. Alll the balls were released and the players flew everywhere. James wanted this to be a quick match so he narrowed his eyes in search of the tiny golden snitch. He saw it near one of the goal posts. He surged forward. As soon as he came close enough to close his hands around the tiny piece of gold. Someone pushed his arm out of the way and smacked him right in the center of his chest. James growled and got out of the way. Man! That hurt.

James couldn't do that again. He got lucky this time because the Slytherin seeker had gotten distracted by James sound of pain. When the seeker made to grab the snitch, it was gone.

The injured Gryffindor seeker searched even more intently for the golden snitch. Finally he spotted it high in the air. He forced his broom to go its maximum speed and caught the ball. The game ended.

Gryffindor won but James felt ill. He allowed himself to be lifted up onto the team's shoulders and carried into the castle. When the team put him down he made for the stairs, but was stopped by the huge crowd. He needed to rest before he had patrols.

After many attempts James finally made it upstairs. He fell face down on his four poster bed and fell into a deep sleep.

"Hey Prongs," Someone shouted. "You're going to be late for patrol."

James fell out of bed and looked at his clock. Remus was right he had five minutes to get down there.

"Wow man! Are you okay?" Remus inspected James.

"Yah why?"

"You look terrible. Maybe you shouldn't do your patrol tonight.

"I'm fine." said James fiercely trying to convince him. The truth was he did feel terrible. He couldn't miss another patrol though so he stuck to it and went anyway.

Everyone else was already there when James walked into the patrol meeting. As usual he was paired with Lily. The two walked in silence for a while. James was afraid that if he opened his mouth vomit would pour out of it. Lily apparently didn't have that same feeling so she began asking him about the quidditch match. When James didn't answer lily, she turned to look at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked. James just shook his head and continued on, Lily took the hint and said no more.

Finally the patrol ended. James staggered up to his dormitory, pulled the curtains around his bed, removed his shirt, and fell into bed. He slept all day Sunday, and was awaken on Monday by Sirius.

"Prongs, you're going to be late."

James didn't care he stayed behind the curtains and under his blanket. By now Sirius was a bit annoyed at James for ignoring him so he pulled back the curtains and removed James blanket. The cold air hit the teenage boy.

Sirius tried to get James to go to the hospital wing but James refused. He got up and got dressed; he didn't eat much but he made sure he was up and awake all day.

Without doing any homework, James went to bed. He spent most of his time sleeping these days.

The next morning he woke up to his name. He stood, his head was spinning and he collapsed into unconsciousness.


	7. Healing

James Potter's passing out had reached the entire school. He had many visitors, most of them girls some were his friends. Madame Pomfrey wouldn't let him leave the hospital wing until the infection in his body had completely evaporated. Sometimes the boy was grateful for this but other times he wanted to get out so badly that he'd say anything to the strict healer.

Remus would bring all of James homework to him so he wouldn't fall behind. So far James had been in the hospital wing for nearly a week. He had missed patrol with Lily again. That was one of the times James had desperately wanted to leave the hospital. One evening James was sitting up in his bed doing homework when he heard a voice.

"Can I come in?" the girl asked.

"sure." James answered, when the girl came to where James could see her.

"Can I see your cut?" she asked.

"Uhh ok sure, Lily, why?"

"I just want to see it." She stated. James eyed her and then shrugged and lifted his shirt.

"It's almost better. Well, according to me it is." He watched her.

Lily tore her eyes from the wound and looked into James face. "You could have died."

Did she mean he could have died from the infection?

"What do you mean?"

Lily looked as if she was at war with herself, and then finally she whispered, "You were the stag." He stiffened.

"What are you talking about?" James decided to play dumb.

"You know what I'm talking about James; you jumped in front of the werewolf. It all makes sense now, the nicknames, and your nickname."

James just shook his head looking at her very disbelieving. "The nicknames moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and prongs. Moony can only be the wolf. I have no idea what Wormtail is… a worm? And then Padfoot was the dog that jumped in after the wolf attacked you. And the stag was you, Prongs. Don't tell me I'm wrong." James was just silent. "How… how did you guys do it?"

"That is a lot of guess work and Lily if that were even remotely true, it wouldn't be my secret to tell it would be… moony's a werewolf?"

She looked at him fiercely "alright I will Remus but if he asks how I found out, I'm going to tell him about that night when you saved me and how I knew."

"No you can't tell Remus, Lily. It would tear him apart to know that he did this to one of his friends and almost killed another one of his friends do you understand?"

"Then you tell me, Potter."

James sighed, "It was in fifth year. We knew about Moony for a long time. We wanted to be able to keep him company, but, obviously couldn't be with him as humans so Sirius and I figured it out. Remus disapproved but we knew he appreciated it and would enjoy our company. It was easier for him to turn when we were there. After Remus knew that we wouldn't drop it, he pointed us in the right direction and helped us." James stopped, "You can't tell anyone, Lily, never."

"Professor Dumbledore knows, at least I think he does. I went and told him that there was a werewolf on the grounds and he asked why I was even on the grounds. I told him I was following someone, when I couldn't find them, I stayed outside for a little longer and the wolf came."

"Dumbledore knows about Remus but not about the rest. How did you figure it out?"

"After you missed patrol you looked really worn out. I didn't think anything of it but when the person in the quidditch match hit you, you acted like it was huge. Then at patrol you were really sick so I thought maybe… then I thought no way. And then you passed out from an infection in your chest. That was exactly where the stag was injured. I thought about it and then the names matched every one of you and everything I saw. Then when you showed me your chest I knew I was right.

"Way too much guess work, Evans."

"So what is Wormtail?"

"A rat."

"oh."Lily said, "how sad." James just laughed. We needed someone to be able to get to the knot in the whomping willow and he didn't want to be something big he was too scared.

"Hey, Evans, thanks for giving me another chance. I know I didn't deserve it." He looked up at her and smiled, she was blushing. Was that normal or was that something new?

"Potter," she was whispering now. "Ask me one more time." Had he heard her right? She wanted him to ask her what one more time? He studied the beautiful girl in front of him. Her eyes gave away a sense of longing.

Hoping he had heard her right he asked, "Will you go out with me, Lily?" She smiled at the use of her first name and nodded, and then silently walked out of the hospital wing.


	8. First Date

Lily hadn't visited James since she had told him she wanted to go out with him. Had she changed her mind? James was a little bit unsure and excited. This was the most unexpected thing that could ever happen to James Potter. He though his heart would explode with happiness.

After about a week James was finally let out of the hospital wing. He headed straight toward the Gryffindor tower, on his way he bumped into Peter,

"Hey Pete, whatcha doin'? He asked. Peter hurried and put something in his pocket and answered 'nothing'. James shrugged it off and finished climbing the tower stairs. As soon as he got to the portrait hole he hesitated. Did he really want to see if Lily was going to go out with him, or should he just act like nothing had happened? He decided to see what Lily would do? So he walked confidently into the portrait hole up to his dormitory. Nobody was there. James pulled out a little mirror and said Sirius name into it. The name echoed in the room. Looks like Sirius left his mirror here; he must be on a date.

James sat there and thought about Lily. If she really did want to go out with him, where should he take her what would they do? He didn't know this girl as much as he'd thought he did. He went down to the common room and decided to finish up some of the homework that was left over from when he was in the hospital wing.

"Need any help?" came a familiar voice. James looked up into the beautiful green eyes of the auburn haired girl he was in love with. He shook his head no, Lily looked at him with surprise and was hurt there too?

He stood up, "will you come with me?" she nodded and then followed James out of the portrait hole. They found an empty classroom and went inside. James just stood there silently looking at Lily. She was blushing as he looked at her.

"What?" she broke the silence.

"Do you really want to go out with me or was that a joke because believe me, Lily, if it's a joke you had better tell me right now."

She shook her head. "No joke." She hadn't even noticed he was holding his breath until he let it out slowly.

"So when do you want to go? Where do you want to go?"

"Well next hogsmeade trip we take. That would be fun." James looked disappointed, "Do you not want to go to hogsmeade?"

"I don't mind going to hogsmeade but the next trip is a month away. You don't want to do something sooner?"

"I would but I don't want to go on a date to a classroom. I want it to be away from all this."

"Well what if I took you somewhere you've never been but we didn't have to leave the castle walls and it will definitely be away from all this?" Lily smiled. "Meet me here tomorrow night at seven o clock." James walked out of the room leaving a blushing Lily behind.

"You got her to go out with you? What did you do make a love potion?" Sirius asked.

"I didn't get her to go out with me she kind of asked me."

Remus looked unhappy, he hadn't taken this news very well. "What's the matter Remus you don't like her too do you?"

"Wha… oh no I am just thinking, I'm happy for you Prongs. So what are you going to do on your first date?"

"Well I was thinking of showing her around the castle in the Mauraders light and then maybe go flying."

"No, to the flying, Lily is terrified, but taking her around the castle is ok. Maybe you should save that for a different date. You could show her one tonight and have a romantic dinner." Remus suggested then continued scowling and didn't say another word on the subject, but James was in too good a mood to notice. He continued that day very happily and hearty.

The next day at around seven, James was in the empty classroom waiting for Lily with a rose in his hand. James hoped the rose wasn't too much then deciding it was he made it disappear. Lily came in two minutes after seven, she apologized for being late and then told James to lead the way. He took her to a long corridor that had nothing at the end of it. This was the place a lot of people went to snog after curfew. Lily was getting an unsure look on her face. James noticed but kept right on going towards the dead end. He put his hand on the wall and said "veilcomb" and then fell through. He had grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her through too.

There was a candlelit table set for two with wine glasses and some fancy high backed chairs. James looked at Lily. She was in awe.

James led her over to her chair and pulled it out. Then he went and sat down in his own chair. The two talked and laughed and had a really good time. At the end of the night James remembered his rose he made it reappear and gave it to Lily. She took it, smelled it, and whispered, "It's beautiful." Then James walked his girl up to the common room and left her to broad over her first date with James Potter.

James was so far on cloud nine that his friends had to keep reeling him back in to focus on school work and quidditch. One of the things that would bring James to his senses was Remus acting so cold toward Lily and any talk of her. Had he liked Lily too?


	9. The Dare

After a couple of dates with Lily Evans and Remus acting like a maniac toward her, James decided to take a stand.

"What is wrong with you Moony I've liked this girl since I was a little kid. Tell me the truth, do you like her too?"

Remus shook his head no, "but I need to tell you something Prongs. Its fake, the whole thing was fake. Lily took a dare from one of her friends to date you. I didn't think it would go on like this but I feel like it's just gone way too far and I'm really sorry that I had to tell you and that it had to be like this. I have been telling Lily that it was wrong but she has just been ignoring me. That is why I've been acting out toward her. I'm really sorry."

Remus watched James's heart break right in front of him. James didn't say anything. He knew this was too good to be true. He told Remus that he appreciated him letting him know. James's head hung low as he walked in the opposite direction of his next class. He wasn't seen the rest of that day.

Remus felt really responsible for his friend's turmoil and went looking for him after classes were over. He was checking all James's usual places but found him nowhere. As Remus went into the least likely place to find James he was stopped by Lily. She had a worried look on her face.

"Do you know where James is? I need to talk to him but I can't find him anywhere."

"I have no idea where he is but I told him what you did Lily, How could you do that to somebody?" he yelled.

"Is that what this is all about, this cold shoulder toward me? You had no right to tell James. I was going to tell him when I was good and ready."

"Yah when you had him under your skin and whipped, Lilly that would hurt him even more." I didn't want to see one of my friends get hurt."

"Remus why couldn't you have stayed out of it for a couple more days, I was going to tell him the truth it was just really hard. I needed the time to get the guts to do it."

"It would have hurt him more to wait longer and you know it."

Lily hung her head. "I was going to tell him today. I need to find him to explain something Remus, you have to help me find him."

"I'm not helping you find him. If you want to see him then you find him yourself." Remus stomped off obviously still bugged at what Lily had done to his friend.

James was in the shrieking shack. I guess I probably deserved that, he thought. I've been bugging Lily my whole life and she got me back for it. I thought this time was different though. Oh well time to move on, I guess I will never get this girl. I might as well face the facts.

He left the shack and decided it was time to get on with his life.

James didn't know how he did it but he didn't care anymore, about anything, he wanted to finish school and that was all. He didn't want a girl friend or anything he just didn't care anymore

He walked back into the castle and up to the Gryffindor common room. Lily was waiting for him.

"James can I talk to you?"

"I've got nothing to talk to you about, Evans." He walked on up into the boys dormitory where he found Remus.

"James I'm really sorry I had to tell you that way."

"Actually Moony thanks for letting me know." James was acting really strange there was something going on.

Even Sirius noticed at breakfast the next morning when he had a girl with him. He never noticed anything when a girl was with him. It seemed that James was just living his life now and that he was unable to care.

As the year progressed the Gryffindors were triumphing in quidditch. With one more match of the year and NEWT's going on, the seventh year players were really worn out.

Lily had tried to talk to James countless times but he mainly just ignored her.

Lily was a huge emotional mess. Everybody noticed, well, everyone but James.

Remus began to regret his meddling. He hadn't realized like Lily's friend Addison that Lily was actually falling for James when she was with him. He apologized countless times; Lily would say you did the right thing. I would have done the exact same thing so don't worry about it.

Both Lily and James friends were concerned for the two. They decided that they needed to do something to get them together again. So they cooked up a plan. James would meet Sirius in a secret room that locked for an hour after you entered to plan a prank without being disturbed. Lily would be meeting Addison for some undisturbed study time. It was perfect. The only problem was they had to go in at the same time or the door would lock one of them out.

Sirius told them both that the door led to a hallway and that there were a whole bunch of doors on the other side he told them both to go into the third door. In reality there was no hallway just the empty room.

The night after James won the final quidditch match, he went to meet Sirius to plan his prank. He met Lily on the way and ignored her as usual; the two people went into the door. Just as it began to shut James realized what his friends had done.


	10. Could it be True

James rushed to grab the door so that it wouldn't lock him inside but it was too late, the door was shut and he would be in there for an hour with Lily.

Lily finally realized what was going on after the door was shut and decided to use the opportunity to her advantage.

"Hey," she said, "I know you don't want to talk to me right now but I need you to listen."

"Actually I don't care if I ever talk to you again."

"James you and I both know you don't mean that"

"How would you know Evans? It is impossible for you to know."

"You're right but since you can't do a thing about it anyway you might as well listen to what I have to say"

James just stared at the beautiful girl in front of him. Taking that as a yes Lily began.

"I know what I did was wrong but you don't know the whole story. See what happened was Addison found out a secret that I was keeping and she wouldn't lay off, so I told her I would do anything to get her to drop it. She made me make the unbreakable vow that I would do the one thing she wanted me to do if she didn't ask about it anymore. I foolishly made it because I didn't think it would be that bad. But she already knew my secret and had it all planned out.

She told me that the only way I would get out of it was to take her bet. And her bet was to go out with you and prove to myself that I didn't like you. Since I had made the unbreakable vow I had to do it. I could no longer just tell her the secret; I had to prove it to her. So I asked you to ask me out again and said yes. I know it sounds really stupid but after I had gone out with you for a while I had fulfilled my part of the vow and was free, The rumors around school was that I made a bet to go out with you with one of my friends which is technically true but James I am really sorry that I did this to you and I promise I will leave you alone after this door opens."

There was a long silent moment and then James asked, "so what was your secret?"

Lily grinned. "Do you want me to show you or tell you?"

"Show"

Lily lifted her wand and waved it smoothly. Little sparks shot out of the end. James was confused. Her secret was sparks coming out of her wand. Was she bad at a spell or something? The sparks lingered for a long time and James finally realized what they were… what they said.

I LOVE YOU JAMES POTTER. James could hardly breathe. No, he wouldn't believe this. He couldn't, he'd already suffered so much from the girl in front of him and he couldn't take it anymore. James stared until the words faded and didn't mutter anything. He waited until he heard the door click and walked out. After a while Lily followed suit.

James and Lily wouldn't tell a soul what had happened in the room. If they were asked they would truthfully answer nothing. Their friends were really frustrated with them because they were still ignoring each other.

James couldn't decide if Lily was playing him again or if she was actually telling the truth. He felt really hurt and bothered that he just didn't know what to do about it. He just kept to himself. He knew his friends were worried about him but he just didn't care. There was nobody to go to, he felt so alone in the world.

He couldn't stand this feeling he was having; He didn't know what to do or what to say to Lily Evans. He knew that this girl was the only one with the key to his heart but he didn't know if he could trust her with it. He was sick of getting his heart broken and he didn't want it anymore. But to live like this, with this feeling of despair and need, he had to do something. He either had to cut it off or sew it back together. And to leave Lily out in the open air was cruel; he had to come to a decision as soon as possible so they could both move on with the rest of their lives.

James continued his studies and pondered about what he ought to do and came to a conclusion. He didn't know if this was right but it didn't matter if his heart got broken anymore he was the one who had to make the decision.

He knew exactly what he was going to do now and planned the whole thing out. He would let Lily in on his decision next time they were alone, probably on patrols.

As James was walking around the astronomy tower on a Sunday near curfew he saw a certain auburn haired girl and they were very alone. This was a whole day sooner than he'd planned but was as good a time as any so he went over to Lily and took a deep agonizing breath.

Lily turned toward the noise and waited.

"Lily Evans, will you officially be my girlfriend?"

Tears streamed down Lily's eyes as she nodded happily. She let out the breath that she was holding in without realizing and looked up at the hazel eyed handsome in front of her. And finally… finally that gorgeous head of his leaned down and kissed Lily's soft lips for the first time.


	11. Just how it Goes

Lily and James were madly in love with each other. There wasn't a second that went by when they weren't seen together other than classes. They studied together and passed exams together. In the final days of school they were still very flirtatious and lusty that it made their friends sick to be around them for very long.

On the last day of school James stole Lily away to the room of requirement to show her his very last secret.

"Lily, I brought you here because, not only is this the very last time we get to come in here but I need to show you something." James pulled something out of his robes, got down on one knee and looked up into the eyes of his beautiful girl. Lily held her breath. "Lily Evans, will you marry me?" he asked as the jewelry box magically opened in his hand.

Lily finally began to breathe again and answered, "Yes!"

James took the diamond ring out of its box and placed it around Lily's left hand ring finger. He looked up at her and said, "I love you."

Lily pulled the man up into standing position and answered, "I love you too." She smiled.

Their eyes both poured into each other with that love you only see when it's real, and floated out of the room.

It was quite a shock for their friends when they told them in a couple hours on the train that they were going to be married soon. But hey, when you're in love that's just how it goe**s.**


End file.
